First and foremost, you are right: no allegories. The man said it himself, and if we can't trust him, well, who's left?
Starting with The Hobbit, it's pretty straightforward: a child's story, nothing too deep. The closest thing we'd get in that is probably the very obvious Good and Bad, which is the first step in determining a moral code.
Moving on and changing tracks to LotR, things get a lot more fuzzy and complicated. Allegory aside, there is no getting around Tolkien's Christianity, Catholicism to be more precise. His works are so unique in the world of literature because, although the inherent evil of man is accurately portrayed, love and faith conquer all in the end. Discounting allegory does not discount the moral worth of the book. Karl Kroeber wrote of Tolkien's works:
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Happy endings are not just assured, they depend on luck, on chance, and for just that reason they bring a catch in the breath at finding in this harsh world a momentary deliverance or beauty's grace or the heart's desire.
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That quote, I think, sums up how Tolkien uses his religion to enrich his stories. No, it does not take religion to have morals, but for some, one's belief system is the source of all things beautiful, and I think this is the case with Tolkien.
Now, in The Silmarillion, there are obvious references to Biblical occurences, especially with the Creation. What I like best about this part is how Tolkien remains faithful to his Christianity while still being so unique that peers are nonexistent even today. I also think an interesting thing to mark about The Silmarillion's relationship to religion is the fact that Tolkien's world is not exactly monotheistic. Ea is more comparable to Greek and Roman legend than Christianity when it comes to demigods and patron caretakers.
As for HoME and his various other scribblings, someone with more experience will have to chime in on that.
Edit: BeeBombadil, you're right, but we tend to focus more on Christianity most of the time because Tolkien himself was a very devout Catholic, as can be divined from my preceding post.
[ August 16, 2002: Message edited by: onewhitetree ]